The former Addison Hospital building, nine downtown Adrian buildings and seven Scott Ridge lots could become holdings of the new Lenawee County Land Bank.

County commissioners voted Tuesday to approve Land Bank purchase of the tax-foreclosed properties at an Oct. 29 auction by the county treasurer.

A committee reviewed the list of foreclosed properties to go on the auction block later this month and chose some that have a potential to be marketed by the Land Bank, said county administrator Martin Marshall. Money for the purchases is to come from promissory notes that will be repaid when the property is sold, he told the commission’s personnel/ways and means committee.

“This Land Bank is going to be good for the community,” said commissioner Cletus Smith, R-Madison Twp. The organization has an opportunity to encourage private development of tax-foreclosed properties and protect the value of neighboring properties, he said.

The property selected for Land Bank purchase will be included in the Oct. 29 auction where most parcels are offered for a minimum bid of $500. The properties went unsold in an August auction where the minimum bid was the full amount owed in property taxes.

The largest single property is the former Addison Hospital building. The Land Bank was authorized to bid up to $175,000 for it. It drew no bids in August when the starting price was $177,355.

Marshall said Land Bank officials are worried that a private buyer might strip the building of salvageable material and leave it to be foreclosed again by the county for unpaid property taxes. The Land Bank is to seek grants for demolition of the building and seek a private developer for the land.

Nine buildings in Adrian’s historic downtown were also at risk of being purchased for bids as low as $500 and left to deteriorate, Marshall said. The buildings are to be marketed to developers who would preserve their historic nature.

Seven lots at the Scott Ridge residential development in Adrian are to be purchased with a goal of finding a buyer who will build on them, Marshall said.

“That’s an area that we think should be developed properly,” he said. The other option is to sell the lots for as little as $500 each to end up as lawns for neighboring houses, he said.

The Land Bank will also bid on the Green Acres condominium development off Airport Highway in Madison Township. The development’s 32 bare lots have a potential to attract a private developer to invest in a project, Marshall said. The Land Bank was authorized to pay up to the $33,555 owed in delinquent taxes.